As predicted last night, the end of Eve Shapiro's chapter 3, "New Biomedical Technologies, New Scripts, New Genders," in Gender Circuits ends on an up note. But, before we get to the positive, Shapiro discusses some case studies by scholars that have to do with strippers.
Many strippers go through massive body modifications in order to make more money at their profession. These of course can include things like extreme breast augmentation, permanent hair removal, drug use, etc. But I guess I had never thought about what these types of body modifications due to a person's identity. If a stripper changes her body drastically for her profession, does this match who she is outside of the job? According to Shapiro, "the more technologies the women used to produce ideal bodies, the more wedded they became to their 'stripper' identities" (157). It seems as if these identities are difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile.
Another point that Shapiro makes, almost offhandedly, is that men likewise go through the motions to replicate the ideal gender script of body with things such as steroids, shaving, waxing, and other drastic measures: all to meet an ideal that is impossible to replicate. With today's media portrayal of the perfect bodies, even men are succumbing to the need to replicate an impossible, often airbrushed, image.
The rest of the chapter, however, deals with the possibilities that new technologies bring to gender. Shapiro states that "it is important to remember, however, that while each technology may have the possibility of reifying gender scripts, it can also open up potential for new gendered bodies" (161). While many of the advances for transgendered have already been discussed, she goes into more detail by describing the differences between Michael Dillon, who went through FTM transformation starting in 1930, and Rey, who has gone through the same transformation recently. The advances in the last 50 years are amazing. Access to surgery and other medical treatments are much easier than they were 50 years ago, and the acceptance of such transformations is much greater.
Shapiro also discusses in her case study in this chapter those children who are born without any definite sex. In the past, parents were usually forced to choose a sex for the child soon after birth regardless of what gendered identity the child might acquire as they grew older. Today, however, and with the help of the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA), parents often receive counseling, advising them to wait until the child can develop an identity and help in making the decision, and many of them heed this advice. I was surprised to learn that some of these children choose to have no surgery, thereby not conforming to the binary of two sexes, two genders. I would call this progress!
The next entry will focus on the "Review" (last) chapter of Shapiro's text which will likely just rehash much of what we have already discussed. Book two will be complete and I'll be onto the next text.
Many strippers go through massive body modifications in order to make more money at their profession. These of course can include things like extreme breast augmentation, permanent hair removal, drug use, etc. But I guess I had never thought about what these types of body modifications due to a person's identity. If a stripper changes her body drastically for her profession, does this match who she is outside of the job? According to Shapiro, "the more technologies the women used to produce ideal bodies, the more wedded they became to their 'stripper' identities" (157). It seems as if these identities are difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile.
Another point that Shapiro makes, almost offhandedly, is that men likewise go through the motions to replicate the ideal gender script of body with things such as steroids, shaving, waxing, and other drastic measures: all to meet an ideal that is impossible to replicate. With today's media portrayal of the perfect bodies, even men are succumbing to the need to replicate an impossible, often airbrushed, image.
The rest of the chapter, however, deals with the possibilities that new technologies bring to gender. Shapiro states that "it is important to remember, however, that while each technology may have the possibility of reifying gender scripts, it can also open up potential for new gendered bodies" (161). While many of the advances for transgendered have already been discussed, she goes into more detail by describing the differences between Michael Dillon, who went through FTM transformation starting in 1930, and Rey, who has gone through the same transformation recently. The advances in the last 50 years are amazing. Access to surgery and other medical treatments are much easier than they were 50 years ago, and the acceptance of such transformations is much greater.
Shapiro also discusses in her case study in this chapter those children who are born without any definite sex. In the past, parents were usually forced to choose a sex for the child soon after birth regardless of what gendered identity the child might acquire as they grew older. Today, however, and with the help of the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA), parents often receive counseling, advising them to wait until the child can develop an identity and help in making the decision, and many of them heed this advice. I was surprised to learn that some of these children choose to have no surgery, thereby not conforming to the binary of two sexes, two genders. I would call this progress!
The next entry will focus on the "Review" (last) chapter of Shapiro's text which will likely just rehash much of what we have already discussed. Book two will be complete and I'll be onto the next text.
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